Blood Cancers

Martyn Day Excerpts

Thursday 7th July 2016 Westminster Hall

[Martyn Day (Linlithgow and East Falkirk) (SNP)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Walker. I thank the hon. Members for Strangford (Jim Shannon) and for Crawley (Henry Smith) for securing this informative and timely debate. Although I might have sleepless nights at the thought that one in two people will receive a cancer diagnosis, I thank them both for driving home that point to the wider populace.

There can be little doubt that a cancer diagnosis is a daunting prospect for those affected and their families, which is why it is vital that we support them throughout their journey from detection through to aftercare. Many heartfelt examples and experiences have been detailed in today’s debate, and it is clear that the support that individuals require can vary greatly. One size does not fit all, so we need a system that considers the problems from all angles. I agree wholeheartedly with the hon. Member for Strangford that everyone should be offered tailored support.

I am grateful to the hon. Member for Erewash (Maggie Throup)—I hope I have pronounced it correctly—for her explanation that we should refer to all the diseases as blood cancers. As a layman, I found it helpful. There are 130 of them, all with complex names, and having done some research for this debate, I found the names confusing. It is a good approach. Her argument about the strong need for more clinical research should be taken on board.

I was grateful to hear from the hon. Member for Coventry North East (Colleen Fletcher) about her personal circumstances. I am glad that her husband has had a positive outcome. The regional variations are somewhat disappointing; a lot more can be done. I thank the hon. Member for Crawley for his submission and for securing this debate. He drove home the fact that blood cancers are the third biggest cancer killer, and spoke about the difficulties caused by small sample sizes in providing adequate data for drug assessments. That is an important point.

In Scotland, of course, health issues are devolved, so unlike many hon. Members here today, I see only a tiny number of such cases in my casework, as they go to MSPs instead. Our experience in Scotland is also a little different. The Scottish Government are implementing a £100 million new cancer plan to improve prevention, early diagnosis and treatment, and have reformed how the Scottish Medicines Consortium assesses drugs in order to give patients better access to treatments that can give them longer and better quality lives.

Basically, we have combined our cancer drugs fund with our rare diseases drugs fund and simply called it the new drugs fund. The amount in the fund has been quadrupled, which is a significant factor. That approach will serve as a blueprint for all cancer services in Scotland, improving the prevention, detection, diagnosis, treatment and aftercare of those affected by the disease.

Other initiatives include a £50 million fund over the next five years to improve radiotherapy equipment and support radiotherapy training, ensuring that everyone who would benefit from it has access to advanced radiotherapy, and £9 million over five years to support access to health and social care services during and after treatment, such as link workers to provide support in the most deprived communities. We will also invest £5 million over the next five years in reducing inequalities in screening. There are many such examples, and we can learn from one another’s good practices in the different parts of the United Kingdom.

In Scotland, the Scottish Medicines Consortium considers drugs as NICE does, including worldwide evidence, and works up each drug in detail. The balance for us seems to be slightly more on effectiveness than on cost, although cost obviously remains a factor in all matters. Our impression is that, for NICE, cost would sometimes be a bigger component. Both organisations consider cost-effectiveness; as we all know, there is not an infinite pot of money.

In conclusion, although no system will ever produce a favourable result for every individual, more can always be done and we can always learn lessons from each other’s systems. In that light, I suggest that Ministers consider giving NICE the power to change its decision-making process and consider new medicines more flexibly.